CyanogenMod SecureSMS messaging currently in “active development”

Koushik Dutta hasn’t offered anything specific in terms of when the SecureSMS option would be available for CyanogenMod users, however he has recently confirmed that progress is still being made. Coming by way of a recent status update, Dutta has said SecureSMS is “still in active development.” There also appears to have been another person brought on to continue development.

Dutta has said that Moxie Marlinspike has “taken over development” on this project. For those not familiar with that name, he is responsible for an app called Text Secure. This app is currently available for Android users and can be found in the Google Play Store. The TextSecure app is free to download and free to use and arrives with the promise of being able to offer encryption your text messages over the air and on your phone.

Basically, this app will encrypt all messages locally (which should help if your phone is lost or stolen) and also encrypts those messages as they go out over-the-air to protect them in transit. That said, while we know Marlinspike has been brought on to continue development of the SecureSMS app for CyanogenMod, we are still in need of many of the specifics. We have seen details stating that it would be a standalone app and that it will be able to encrypt your messages so prying eyes will not be able to see them.

With that, while we are curious to see the full functionality once this arrives, this appears to be just one of the many secure SMS options in development at the moment. Earlier in the week we mentioned another called Heml.is, which is currently in development with plans to launch for both Android and iOS.